On 4/18/2020 9:22 PM, Michael Terrell wrote:
On Saturday, April 18, 2020 at 6:06:12 PM UTC-4, Too Many Tools wrote:
On 4/17/2020 8:03 PM, Michael Terrell wrote:
On Friday, April 17, 2020 at 2:02:06 PM UTC-4, Clare wrote:
On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 07:58:17 -0700 (PDT), Michael Terrell wrote:

On Friday, April 17, 2020 at 7:57:47 AM UTC-4, Jim Wilkins wrote:

Electrolytics didn't used to go bad like that. My stock of beer-can-sized
ones from the 80's which I occasionally reform leak less than 1mA after a
few minutes connected to a (vacuum tube) power supply set to their working
voltage and 15mA.

Those capacitors weren't used in high frequency applications, and they didn't pass as much current. Some CPU ICs operate at 1.8V at up to 100 amps. All the ripple is passed to the ground plane as those capacitors filter the rail. Multiple capacitors in parallel are used for several reasons. They are smaller, so each one generates less heat. A cluster of them have a mower ESR than a single capacitor. They can be a lot closer to the CPU to improve voltage regulations, and reduce the radiated noise.


There was a rumor that the bad ones originated when an Asian manufacturer
stole an intentionally leaked faulty formula.

That was around 1999 and they failed while the computers were under warranty. I had it happen to a two month old Compaq computer. I contacted them. I was told to drop it off at the closest Radio Shack, and it would be serviced at their service center in Orlando. Then they said, "Back up all of your files, because they will reformat and install the operating system. I told them that it was dead, and I couldn't back it up without removing the drive. That would beak the security seal and void the warranty. I told them that I was gong to remove the drive, and never buy another of their products.
Those caps took a long time to work themselves out of the supply
chain and lots of them managed to get through warranty. I had quite a
few where the computers had to go back for warranty where I asked for
permission to pull the drive and noted the permission on the RMA form.

Not buying another Compaq / Pakard Bell / HP computer definitely was
not a BAD decision. Some of their (HP) printers are / were pretty
decent but Canon and Lexmark have sure eaten their lunch over the last
20 years - with help from Brother.

The early HP laser printers were workhorses. I am currently using a Samsung networked printer tat prints on both sides.

I have a junk HP color all in one with a total of 24 pages printed before it stopped feeding paper. What a waste, for whoever bought it new. I picked it up with a pile of junk computers.


You're kind of a pack rat hoarder of worthless **** like Wieber, aren't you?


No, I buy defective test equipment and restore it. I've done that for over 50 years. I started in my mid teens when I couldn't afford new test equipment. TV shops had a phobia about repairing their own equipment so they would pile it up in the back of the shop. They would sell it cheap, or give it away. I repaired as much as I could and used the other for parts.

Now that I'm retired, it is how I spend my time. It has gone from a hobby, to a career, and back to a hobby. It's a better hobby than trolling Usenet.



Really? All Wieber does is troll Usenet, and it seems that's all your
"contribution" [sic] here is.